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(No Model.)

- A. W. 8a LE R. W. STEVENS.

Wagon Axle No. 240,859. Patented May 3,1881

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N.PETERS. PHOTO-UTHOGMPNEH. WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT Onntoa.

ABRAM W. STEVENS AND LE ROY W. STEVENS, OF AUBURN, NEW YORK.

WAGON-AXLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 240,859, dated. May 3, 1881.

Application filed February 28, 1881.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, ABRAM W. STEVENS and LE ROY W. STEVENS, of Auburn, in the county of Cayuga and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Wagon-Axles, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in axles for various kinds of wagons, particularly those used to carry thrashing-machines, requiring to be longer than for ordinary wagons, and at the same time light and strong; and the objects of our improvements are to provide a trussed axle having its skeins united by adjustable truss-bolts, in combination-with a central support or connection, to which both bolts are secured, said connection being pendent from the bridge or bridges placed under the axle, and also to provide axle-skeins made with atubular bolt-receiver and an open recess, to hold the body and the eccentrically-tormed head of the truss-bolts.

To obtain the best results from truss-bolts it is desirable that they should be as much as possible diverging from a parallel line with the axle, and yet not to ban g so low as to give to the axle an unsightly appearance.

Various kinds of truss-rods and devices have been used in connection with the body of axles to obtain the desired strength. The skeins have been provided with lugs, on the under side thereof, through which truss-rods pass to unite them. The truss-rods most generally pass through a portion of the axle and issue at the end of the skeins 5 but boring the axle for that purpose weakensit. Truss-rods have also been united under the center of the axle with a double screw-bolt having a nut in the center of itslength.

Our invention will first be described in connection with the drawings, and then pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a rear view of an axle constructed according to our improvement, one end of the axle being shown in section. Fig. 2 represents a bottom view of the same. Fig. 3 represents a rear View of the axle provided with stays above the trussrods and a turn-bucklewith a central opening for the reception of the king-bolt. Fig. 4

represents, in perspective, the casting forming (No model.)

the lower bridge and pendent post of the axletruss. Fig. 5 is a view of the lower brace, usually projecting from the central reach or perch of wagons. Fig. 6 is a view of one of the truss-bolts.

In said drawings, A represents the wood axle, and B the skeins thereof. Each skein is provided with a shoulder or collar, b, as inner support for a wheel, and a nut, b, to retain it thereon, and also with a tubular receiver, B, on the under side thereof, to hold a truss-rod, G. The shoulder 12 is recessed at b to receive the head of a truss-rod as near as possible to the body or skein of the wooden axle, and the head 0 of each truss-rod is made eccentric, with the same object in view.

In the center of the axle, on the bottom thereof, is secured, with bolts or screws, a cast ing, D, in the form of an inverted bridge or support, provided with a pendent post, 1), to receive and retain the inner ends of the trussbolts by means of nuts 0 bearing against opposite sides of said support. The bridge-plate D is recessed in the center for the reception of the lower brace, E, of the central reach of wagons. Its recessed portion, extending forward of the axle, is provided with an opening, (I, for the reception of the lower end of the kin g-bolt. By using this recessed bridge-plate D the lower end of the brace E is constantly supported, and the use of a nut or a key on the lower end of the king-bolt can be dispensed with. The king-bolt F can also be made to pass through the center of the axle, as shown in Fig. 3. In this case two stays or bridges, G, are secured to the under side of said axle, and a link turn-buckle, H, is used to connect the ends of the truss-rods 0, one of which rods should have a right-hand thread and the other a left-hand thread cut thereon. The link H being of such size as to receive the end of the king-bolt, it will be locked thereby, and at the same time give the desirable support to the brace E, the latter receiving the king-bolt between the bottom of the axle and the turnbuckle link H.

Having now fully described our invention, we claim- 1. The combination of an axle and axleskeins, provided with tubular receivers B and recesses b, with truss-rods having eccentric heads, and a central support to unite the ends of the rods and receive the lower brace and king-bolt of a wagon running-gear, substantially as and. for the purpose described.

2. The combination of an axle and axleskeins, having tubular receivers for truss-rods provided with eccentric heads, and a central support, D, for the perch-brace E and king- 

